Chavez says CIA plotted to kill him

The Venezuelan president said on state television that he had eluded an assassination attempt in El Salvador where he was due to attend the swearing in of its new leader, a Left-wing ally.

[efoods]“I am not accusing Obama. I think the American president has good intentions,” Mr Chavez said. “But over and above Obama, there is the CIA, and all of its tentacles. I have no doubt US intelligence services are behind this.”

The plot was revealed by Mr Chavez’s friend and ally, the Sandinista revolutionary President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua.

El Salvador’s security minister, Manuel Melgar, said that were “strange movements” and that the visit of the Venezuelan president could not be given “full security”.

According to Mr Chavez, the Cuban plane that he and President Evo Morales of Bolivia were to travel on was going to be shot down by a rocket as it approached San Salvador airport.